Two Ocalans jump into artificial reality industry – News – Ocala.com

Matthew Buckman is CEO of Twelve Eight Media, where he works alongside Executive VP Seth Farley on marketing and websites as well as virtual reality applications.

Katie Pohlman @Katie_Pohlman

Matthew Buckman kneels on gray carpeted floor with his legs bent at 45-degree angles. He looks up and off to his right gazing at a blue wall with a Yoda poster hanging on it.

He extends his right arm straight in front of his gaze, and pinches the air with his index finger and thumb. He’s selecting different menu options for a game.

Soon he’ll be on his feet, dodging lasers and fighting flying robots with the help of the Microsoft Hololens Augmented Reality Headset. The contraption looks like a science fiction movie prop: a silver plastic band circles Buckman’s head to keep it in place while he looks through a pair of large tinted glasses with sensors above each eye.

Before the game begins, Buckman looks around the room. The device scans it, getting a lay of the room. It will adjust to the layout so the robots break through walls or fly through windows.

The Hololens is using augmented reality which projects virtual images onto real life. Buckman can still see the room and if anyone else is in it, but there are additional images overlapping reality.

“It’s the way to go as far as the future,” he said about augmented reality and virtual reality. Virtual reality fully immerses the person in a virtual world.

Buckman is the CEO and founder of Twelve Eight Media, where he works along with Executive Vice President Seth Farley on creating digital marketing campaigns and business websites as well as developing augmented and virtual reality applications. They’re working with a local medical clinic and retail store, which they could not name for privacy sake, to help with their brands and websites.

The pair, both from Ocala, met through mutual friends and clicked work wise, Buckman said. They both have a background in graphic design. Buckman has some additional experience in 3D animation.

After a few discussions, the two decided to join forces as Twelve Eight Media, representing the number of lines and points a cube has respectively.

“If he can handle kindergartners, he can probably manage other people,” Buckman said of Farley, a former teacher.

The two have big dreams for Twelve Eight Media, which moved into the Ocala/Marion County Chamber & Economic Partnership’s Power Plant business incubator, 405 Osceola Ave., Ocala, in May.

Right now the company is working with Ocala businesses to help design websites and ad campaigns.

“We’re taking the quality of work from national agencies and bringing it here to apply to businesses,” Buckman said.

He wants to provide the same ad campaign and design quality national brands can afford to businesses in town. Twelve Eight Media is also helping businesses find newer ways to advertise and find clients. For example, Buckman said many local businesses don’t know about Facebook ads. He and Farley plan to help them understand and use those.

Buckman and Farley hope Twelve Eight Media will eventually become a national, or even international, company. With the “central location” that is Ocala, Farley said, the company can easily expand its clientele list to include businesses from other central Florida cities.

They also want to be leaders in the augmented and virtual reality fields.

“The only limitation is your imagination,” Buckman said.

The two see possibilities for the use of augmented reality in education, finance, and the locomotive industry to name a few.

With an iPad, Farley said, students would be able to bring their textbooks to life.

Augmented reality could make a picture of the Eiffel Tower become a 3D model, allowing students to see it from all sides.

Or virtual reality headsets, like the Oculus Rift, could be used to travel the world from a desk chair.

“You can be there and all of a sudden be immersed,” Buckman said.

Designers could also use augmented reality to see their creations in real size and out in the world without having to create multiple models, Buckman said.

Car shoppers could visit the show room from the comfort of their couch by using a virtual reality headset. Or an interior designer could see how a piece of furniture would look in a room without having to haul it in.